Chapter 103: The Extension of the Company Battlefield

Just like the martial arts competition at Bailong High, this sports competition at Ziyun High was also scheduled for midnight. However, due to Songyang High’s consistent investment in sports competitions, the school had chartered a bus for this event.

In the dead of night, five contestants—He Dayou, Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, and others—along with Wang Hai, the coach of the competition team, were traveling by bus towards Ziyun High.

Additionally, Qian Shen and Zhao Tianxing, friends of Zhang Yu, were also on the bus, accompanying him to watch the competition, thanks to Wang Hai’s leniency.

However, apart from Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, who were full of fighting spirit, the other occupants of the bus seemed to lack any anticipation for the sports competition. Some were practicing their breathing techniques, some were reading, others were scrolling through videos on their phones, all giving the impression of wanting to get the formality over with quickly.

Of course, even when Songyang High students watched videos on their phones, they weren’t simply browsing aimlessly. The video showed a woman over four meters tall, with shoulders wider than a truck, resembling a giant, who was teaching body-refining techniques and promoting body-refining potions.

Wang Hai glanced at the student’s video, frowned, and said, "Watch fewer of these body-refining influencers. They're all fake, just trying to trick you into buying their potions."

The student replied, somewhat unconvinced, "Teacher Wang, this is a huge influencer with tens of millions of followers. Many people have met her in person; she can't be fake, can she?"

Wang Hai snorted, "How could someone achieve that height and dimension in the Qi Refining realm just by taking drugs? It's clearly plastic surgery; all those muscles are fake or dead."

With the increasing number of high school students and the rapid development of the body-refining industry, an aesthetic ideal of "taller is beautiful, larger is better" has naturally emerged for many. Wang Hai knew that body-refining influencers on the internet were pursuing increasingly extreme physiques due to fierce competition. To create eye-catching appearances, they even sacrificed true strength, abandoning their original normal body types of two or three meters in height for a distorted aesthetic of four or even five meters.

Wang Hai sighed, "For practitioners who genuinely refine their bodies through medication, exercise, and some reconstructive surgery, reaching three meters tall and two meters wide is basically the limit. Those four-meter-tall influencers have all been filled with fake muscles and bones. If you look closely at the needle marks on their bodies, the injection sites are clearly wrong." Shaking his head, Wang Hai lamented, "Companies introduce young people to take out loans for plastic surgery every year. If they don't die on the operating table, they become influencers hawking products. A few years later, when the surgical side effects kick in, they're replaced by new influencers. These people will tell any lie and sell any garbage potion just to earn money to treat themselves. Don't watch them anymore."

Why was Wang Hai so clear about this? Because a classmate of his had also gone down this path, eventually exhausting all their family's wealth trying to cure themselves after surgical side effects set in, and dying during a live broadcast. Wang Hai himself had even been approached by an agency and nearly pulled into the body-refining influencer industry.

However, after speaking, Wang Hai felt a wave of despondency. He was thinking about the breakthroughs in body-refining technology made by Bailong, Ziyun, and Hongta.

Over the past two weeks, Wang Hai had been using his connections to investigate what kind of technology Oasis Group had provided to the three major high schools, and what advancements the schools had made as a result. After all, such technological upgrades in body-refining would inevitably impact Songyang City’s entire body-refining market and profoundly affect a top coach like Wang Hai. However, both the three major high schools and the companies behind them kept this strictly confidential. Aside from characteristics visibly demonstrated in the sophomore sports competition, the true underlying information was beyond what a physical education teacher like him could uncover.

Thinking about that sophomore sports competition, Wang Hai's expression grew even more grim. He had personally witnessed how Songyang High's sophomores were brutally eliminated in that competition, and how they were pushed out of the rankings by the sheer strength of students from the three major high schools. Even Lanling, whom the school had meticulously trained and whose muscle fibers had been transplanted from seniors early on, was trampled underfoot by the top students from the three major high schools. This made him inwardly lament how times had changed.

And thinking of this, Wang Hai couldn't help but remember someone: "Zhou Chechen..."

Based on his performance, this sophomore student council vice-president should have participated in this sophomore sports competition. Yet, Zhou Chechen was absent this time; he hadn't participated in the sophomore sports competition. "Did Zhou Chechen know something?"

As Wang Hai pondered, Zhang Yu, sitting not far away, was also contemplating today's sports competition. After learning about the three major high schools' breakthroughs in body-refining technology, Zhang Yu had naturally asked his sister, Zhang Pianpian, who stood at the pinnacle of all high school students in Songyang City and was the top senior at Bailong High.

Zhang Yu's mind now replayed Zhang Pianpian's words: "This time, both Oasis Group and the companies and families behind Bailong, Ziyun, and Hongta—the three major high schools—are placing great importance on this freshman sports competition. You ask why they're focusing on the freshman competition rather than other grades? Naturally, it's because the lower the grade level, the more the body-refining technology influences performance relative to the individual student, and the more clearly it highlights the differences between body-refining techniques. Zhang Yu, this freshman sports competition isn't just a contest between students; it's a competition of the immortal path technologies embedded within the students, and of the schools and companies behind these technologies. It's a clash of major companies' immortal path technologies, an extension of the corporate battlefield. As for their attitude towards other high schools... for the three major high schools, it's simply an opportunity to crush them. By demonstrating this process of crushing you, they'll promote their advanced body-refining technologies."

Zhang Yu now recalled his question at that time: "Sister, it sounds like you don't have much faith in me?"

Zhang Pianpian smiled slightly and said, "Whether I have faith in you isn't important. What matters is whether you truly possess the strength to defeat your opponents."

On the bus at this very moment, Zhang Yu looked at his Yu Book: "Is this strength enough to defeat them?" More than a month had passed since the last time he competed for a spot in the competition at Songyang High. In this month, with the aid of the Hunyuan Pill, True Spiritual Root, and Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi, his strength had repeatedly broken through, and his physical intensity had made a leap forward.

Dao Heart Level 4 (80)Mana 43.9Physical Intensity Level 4.95

But looking at his three core stats, Zhang Yu still felt unsatisfied, subtly lamenting that he was gradually encountering bottlenecks in Dao Heart, Mana, and Physical Intensity. "Sigh, the Primordial Qi Circulation Method is becoming less effective; the speed of mana refinement has been slowing down lately. After this physical competition, I definitely need to start looking for a new breathing technique to cultivate."

Cultivation methods are primarily graded by quality: basic, advanced, expert, military, and immortal gate. However, even the highest quality Qi Refining realm cultivation method would be useless for the Foundation Establishment realm. The Primordial Qi Circulation Method was a cultivation method for the early stage of Qi Refining, but Zhang Yu's current level was already approaching that of sophomores, requiring him to consider methods for the middle stage of Qi Refining.

Zhang Yu also thought to himself: "Next is Dao Heart. The Martial Heavens Heart Refining Art is actually sufficient to support my continued improvement of Dao Heart, but the trouble with this method is... each cultivation session requires both internal and external cultivation, practicing those nine external techniques." Yet, Zhang Yu had recently been focused on increasing his physical intensity, cultivating the Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi. This meant he had no time to cultivate the Martial Heavens Heart Refining Art, and could only continuously run the Wild Ox Soul Suppressing Heart Art in his mind, which caused his Dao Heart improvement to hit a bottleneck. Because the Wild Ox Soul Suppressing Heart Art was also only considered an early Qi Refining cultivation method, reaching Dao Heart Level 5 was nearly its limit.

"Then I still need to find a cultivation method that I can practice constantly in my sea of consciousness to continue improving my Dao Heart."

Finally, there was physical intensity. Originally, with the aid of the True Spiritual Root, coupled with the Hunyuan Pill and Level 10 Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi, Zhang Yu's physical intensity had continuously surged, only beginning to slow down as it gradually approached Level 5.00. "The Crimson Marrow Primordial Qi cultivation method is actually still sufficient; the bottleneck should be at a higher level. The reason for the recent slowdown is likely that my physical intensity has increased too rapidly over the past two months, especially this last month, and my heart's strength hasn't kept pace."

Because of his purely natural body refining, with almost no reliance on potions, Zhang Yu's internal organs hadn't grown quickly, nor had his heart expanded as rapidly as those athletes who used performance-enhancing drugs. "Fortunately, with the help of the True Spiritual Root, it should speed up soon..."

Zhang Yu could feel his heart growing stronger and more powerful these days, indicating it would soon be able to support further breakthroughs in his physical intensity.

"Considering this, after this sports competition, I should quickly acquire new breathing techniques and mental cultivation methods. Speaking of which, the prize money for this sports competition's champion has increased several times, finally reaching a full 300,000. As long as I get that 300,000..." Thinking of the 300,000 prize money, Zhang Yu felt a slight thrill.

However, the 300,000 prize money also indicated the high stakes and the importance major companies placed on this sports competition. As Zhang Pianpian had said, the competition was sure to be unprecedentedly fierce, making Zhang Yu feel a hint of pressure.

In fact, it had only been a little over eight months since freshman year began, and Zhang Yu's core stats were already roughly at the average sophomore level for Songyang High, which could be considered rapid progress. He only felt pressure when competing against the 'monsters' from the three major high schools.

Not far away, He Dayou watched Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, who were full of fighting spirit, with confusion. He didn't understand why these two still seemed so confident given the current situation. Although, due to their constant truancy, he hadn't been able to gauge their progress since the last monthly exam. But in such a short period, no matter how much an individual improved, how could it possibly compare to the breakthroughs in body-refining technology achieved by the three major high schools?

Just then, the bus carrying everyone stopped at the entrance of Ziyun High. Unlike Bailong High with its modern buildings, Ziyun High, from the outside, presented an ancient charm with small bridges, flowing water, pavilions, and towers. Especially under the illumination of various golden and white lights, it appeared even more ethereal, like a realm of immortals. Ziyun High covered a vast area, yet there were no tall buildings to be seen. However, occupying such a large area in the city center and crafting the school to resemble a park was enough to deeply convey the immense financial power behind Ziyun High.

Shortly after Zhang Yu and the others entered Ziyun High, they were led into a guest passage. As the reception teacher introduced the facility, disinfectant began spraying from the front of the passage.

The Ziyun High reception teacher looked at them, apologizing, "I apologize, but this is a Ziyun High school rule: all external visitors must undergo uniform disinfection to remove impurities."

"What the hell... are they treating us like some kind of impurity?" Zhang Yu was speechless. At that moment, he profoundly understood that it wasn't just Le Mulan who was a clean freak at Ziyun High; the entire school seemed to have a serious obsession with cleanliness. "This ridiculous school is just as unreliable as Bailong High."

So Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen stepped forward together, looking at the teacher seriously. Zhang Yu pointed to himself, then to the other Songyang students, and said, "I scored over 660 on the monthly exam, and was first in the martial arts competition and fourth in the mana competition. I'm different from them. With my level, I'd get free admission to Bailong High. I shouldn't need disinfection, right?"

Bai Zhenzhen's eyes shifted, and she nodded, saying, "Exactly, is there a VIP passage for those of us above 660?"

The reception teacher replied with an apologetic expression, "I'm sorry, but school rules stipulate that all external visitors must be disinfected. There are no distinctions based on scores."

"Damn, this is even more unreliable than Bailong High." In that instant, Ziyun High was relegated to the bottom of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen's mental ranking of the three major high schools.

Suddenly, Bai Zhenzhen pointed to people walking down another passage and asked, "Why don't *they* need disinfection?" Everyone immediately looked over and saw a group of 'monsters' in Bailong High uniforms walking through an adjacent passage, with no disinfection measures along their way.

The Ziyun High reception teacher chuckled at her words, an expression that seemed to say, 'Does this even need explaining?' "How can that be the same?" The reception teacher shook her head. "They're from Bailong High, after all. As a partner school of Ziyun High, they are not considered external visitors."

Wang Hai intervened, "Alright, alright, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since we're here, let's follow Ziyun High's rules. Don't waste time and delay the competition." As an ace coach who had led teams to competitions at the three major high schools countless times over the years, Wang Hai was exceptionally experienced. He was particularly well-versed in the experience of being humiliated by the three major high schools, and his heart no longer stirred with many ripples. In previous years, Wang Hai could still hope that his students would fight hard in the sports competition, snatch a ranking, and regain some dignity. "This year, however, there's no hope." He sighed, then stepped into the disinfection passage ahead of everyone else.